Bandaru Dattatreya, Minister of Labour and Employment, has resigned from the Narendra Modi cabinet ahead of the reshuffle scheduled for Sunday. 

Police are investigating allegations that a 12-year-old killed herself after a teacher humiliated her for a period stain on her uniform, highlighting the taboo of menstruation in India. The girl jumped off a building near her home in southern India's Tamil Nadu state on Monday, officials said, leaving a note saying her teacher had tortured her. Read more

A portion of a garbage dump collapsed in east Delhi's Ghazipur landfill site today, killing one person, while four others have been rescued, officials said. According to the officials, four vehicles, which were moving on a nearby road, fell into a drain after the garbage dump collapsed on them this afternoon.


"One person has been killed and four others have been rescued," a senior police official said. According to a fire department official, the rescue operation is underway and four fire tenders have been rushed to the spot.

An FIR has been registered against an office-bearer of the Hindu Yuva Vahini for allegedly posting derogatory remarks hurting religious sentiments on social media, police said today.

The FIR was registered against Hindu Yuva Vahini vice- president Aditya Pandit at the Civil Lines police station on a complaint by a group of students from the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).

The AMU students, including former vice-president of the AMU Students' Union Nadeem Ansari, had yesterday met senior district police officials demanding that the National Security Act be invoked against Pandit. They also demanded his immediate arrest. The offensive post has been removed from Pandit's Facebook wall.

Tamil Nadu: Anitha, a Dalit girl from Ariyalur district, who argued against NEET in Supreme Court, allegedly committed suicide.

JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik was today arrested and shifted to central jail in Srinagar, his party said. Malik and zonal organiser of the party Bashir Ahmad Kashmiri were arrested by police from the JKLF headquarters at Maisuma here, a spokesman of the JKLF said. The spokesman said the two were shifted to central jail.

The Congress on Friday said that the drop in growth rate has been 3 per cent, which means a loss to the country to the extent of Rs. 4 to 4.5 lakh crore.

"It's an absolute disaster. 5.7 per cent if you calculate with reference to the criteria under which GDP was earlier calculated, the drop in growth rate has been 3 per cent, which means loss to the country to the extent of Rs. 4 to 4.5 lakh crore. This is a question that has to be asked from this government. Why did they do it?" senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said.

He added that this is the biggest scam because all the rich people in this country converted their money."99.68 per cent of all alleged black money has been converted into alleged white money. The fact of the matter is that the ordinary man has legitimate money in his hand. A majority of people in this country earn Rs. 10,000 a month and that is not black money. Legitimate money was frozen by this government which is the daily bread for poor people. You destroyed the jobs, economy, life of a labourer, construction industry, farmers and small businesses. What did you gain out of it except pain to the people? Why did the Prime Minister allow this to happen? Why did he say that this is a strike against black money when black money is back in the system?" Sibal asserted.

India's economy unexpectedly slowed to a three-year low after the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first quarter (Q1) of 2017-18 was estimated at Rs. 31.10 lakh crore, as against Rs. 29.42 lakh crore in the corresponding quarter of 2016-17, thus registering a growth rate of 5.7 per cent.

Subsidised cooking gas (LPG) price was today raised by over Rs 7 per cylinder, in line with the government's decision to hike prices every month so that all subsidises are eliminated by this fiscal-end.


A subsidised 14.2-kg LPG cylinder now costs Rs 487.18 in Delhi as against Rs 479.77 previously, according to Indian Oil Corporation, the nation's largest fuel retailer.


Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had on July 31 told the Lok Sabha that the government had asked state-owned oil companies to raise subsidised cooking gas (LPG) prices by Rs 4 per cylinder every month to eliminate all the subsidies by March next year.


Rates were, however, raised by Rs 2.31 per cylinder on the previous due date on August 1 and the oil companies have effected a larger hike to equalise that, sources said.


Since the implementation of the policy of monthly increases of Rs 2 from July last year, subsidised LPG rates have gone up by over Rs 68 per cylinder. A 14.2-kg LPG cylinder was priced at Rs 419.18 in June 2016.


The government had previously asked IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) to raise rates of subsidised domestic LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) by Rs 2 per 14.2-kg cylinder per month (excluding VAT).


The quantum has now been doubled so as to bring down the subsidy to nil. Every household is entitled to 12 cylinders of 14.2-kg each at subsidised rates in a year.


Any requirement beyond that is to be purchased at market price. The price of non-subsidised LPG or market-priced cooking gas has also been hiked by Rs 73.5 to Rs 597.50 per bottle. Rates were at the last revision cut by Rs 40. Simultaneously, the oil companies also raised prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) by 4 per cent, in keeping with rising global rates.


ATF, or jet fuel, now costs Rs 50,020 per kilolitre, Rs 1,910 more than Rs 48,110 previously. This hike comes on the back of a 2.3 per cent increase effected from August 1. Also, price of kerosene sold through public distribution system (PDS) was hiked by about 25 paise per litre.


The government is adopting the same policy as in LPG for eliminating subsidy on kerosene. Since July 1 last year, rates have been been hiked by 25 paise per litre each fortnight. While Delhi has been declared a kerosene-free state, the fuel now costs Rs 22.27 per litre in Mumbai compared to Rs 22 previously.


Kerosene was on July 1, 2016, priced at Rs 15.02 per litre in Mumbai. State-owned oil firms revise rates of LPG and ATF on 1st of every month based on average oil price and foreign exchange rate in the previous month.


Today's hike in the LPG price is fourth since the May 30 order of the oil ministry to raise rates by Rs 4 per cylinder every month.


There are as many as 18.11 crore customers of subsidised LPG in the country. These include 2.6 crore poor women who were given free connections during the last one year under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna. There are another 2.66 crore users of non-subsidised cooking gas.

At a time when cases of communal animosity are being reported from different parts of the country, a Muslim family has donated their land here for the expansion of a Hanuman temple.

Javed Ansari (34) recently donated 1,905 square feet of his land towards the expansion of Imli Wale Hanuman Mandir at village Bagwaz in the district, Sub Divisional Magistrate R B Sindoskar told PTI.

"Ansari had submitted an application to donate 1,905 square feet from his land to the committee running the management of Imli Wale Hanuman Mandir. After recording the statements of Ansari and his family members, who jointly share the ownership, the land was handed over to the committee," he added.

This temple is located about one kilometer from the district headquarters on Gupteshwar road in village Bagwaz. This land would be used for the seating arrangements of devotees and the boundary wall.

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear an appeal of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ajay K Agarwal challenging the Delhi High Court order that acquitted the accused in the Bofors pay-off case.


The matter will be heard on October 8."The Bofors matter was taken up by the court today. It was mentioned for fixing a specific date for hearing the matter. The court has said that it will allow the application and fix a date for hearing the matter. The court has fixed October 8 as the next hearing of the matter," Agarwal told ANI.


Agarwal added that the matter is pending for the last 12 years before the Supreme Court."In 2005, the Delhi High Court framed charges against the Hinduja brothers, namely Srichand P Hinduja, Prakash P. Hinduja and Gopichand P Hinduja.


These three are accused under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) 120 B. But the High Court has quashed the charges. It was totally an illegal judgment, because earlier another judge of the same High Court, J.D. Kapoor, on February 4, 2004 had declined to frame the charges and pass an order.


When they moved a clarification application, the judge said that the only remedy available is to move to the Supreme Court. They had filed a petition before the Supreme Court, but they found that they will not succeed in the top court.


Then they filed another application for clarification and by the time JD Kapoor had retired. Another judge Justics R.S. Sodhi heard these applications and in those applications he has framed the charges. He rewrote the judgement and there was no finality of the High Court," Agarwal asserted.


He said that he has pleaded before the Supreme Court that if such thing is allowed to be held, then there will be no finality of the High Court judgement and the High Court judges will keep on repeating.


"There is no jurisdiction of Justice RS Sodhi to recall or change the orders passed by another judge of the same High Court. It is a question of jurisdiction and should be heard as early as possible. I want the charge sheet to be revised against the Hinduja brothers and the trial should go on," Agarwal added.


Agarwal had challenged the Delhi High Court's May 31, 2005 judgment that quashed all charges against the Europe-based Hinduja brothers in the case.


The hearing assumes significance in the wake of a demand in the Parliament by the ruling BJP MPs for reopening of the probe into the Bofors kickback scandal after the media reports quoting Swedish chief investigator Sten Lindstrom's suggested the alleged bribery at the top level.

Update: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will undertake a reshuffle of his council of ministers at 10 am on Sunday, a top government official said. It will be the third such exercise since he took over in May 2014.

"A process has been set in motion for the swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan around 10 am on Sunday," the official said.

Four junior ministers - Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Sanjiv Kumar Balyan, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahendra Nath Pandey - have resigned ahead of the rejig. Two cabinet ministers have also offered to resign, said BJP sources.

The Cabinet reshuffle will take place on Sunday at 10 am: Official sources. At least five central ministers quit on Thursday as part of a larger restructuring.


Apart from Union Minister of State from Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti, the other ministers who tendered resignations are: Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh; Minister of State for Water Resource, River development and Ganga rejuvenation Sanjeev Balyan; MoS for Medium and Small Enterprises Giriraj Singh, and Minister of state for Health Faggan Singh Kulaste.


Two nominees of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar Ram Chandra Prasad Singh and, perhaps, Purnea MP Santosh Kushwaha are likely to be sworn in along with BJP nominees.

If the statistics furnished by the Transparency International (TI), an anti-corruption global civil society organisation, are anything to go by, India has a long way ahead to fulfill one of the many objectives as told by the current Indian government -- defeating the malice of corruption.


A recent survey by the Transparency International states that India is the most corrupt country in Asia.The survey was published in March 2017, but the official handle of Forbes tweeted the article yet again, today.


Depicting how pervasive the problem is across Asia, the list released by Forbes - Asia's Five Most Corrupt Countries - said that India beats Vietnam, Thailand, Pakistan and Myanmar, when it comes to bribery rate.


The Forbes article, which rated India the highest in the list with 69 per cent bribery rate, described India as: "In five of the six public services - schools, hospitals, ID documents, police, and utility services - more than half the respondents have had to pay a bribe."


The article went on to praise Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his 'fight against corruption,'"However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's fight against corruption has made a mark: 53 per cent of the people think he is going it fairly or very well. And it has led to people feeling empowered, as 63 per cent believe ordinary people can make a difference," it added.


India was closely followed by Vietnam at 65 per cent bribery rate.India's neighbour, Pakistan, stood fourth in the list with 40 per cent bribery rate.


The article described the nation as: "In Pakistan, about three-fourths of respondents perceive most or all of the police to be corrupt. Of the people who encountered either the police or the courts, nearly seven in ten had to pay a bribe. Sadly, people don't feel things can change -- only a third think ordinary people can make a difference."


The 18-month long survey by Transparency International was concluded after talking to more than 20,000 people in 16 countries, regions and territories in the Asia Pacific.


The Berlin-based corruption watchdog had put India at rank 76 out of 168 countries in its Corruption Perception Index last year.

The country's 2015 corruption perception score remained the same as 2014's --  38/100 -- showing lack of improvement.According to figures published in March, 2017, while citizens of Pakistan were the most likely of any country to be asked for bribes in law and order institutions, for India the police bribery rate was 54 per cent and for China a low 12 per cent.India had the highest bribery rates of all the countries surveyed for access to public schools (58 per cent) and healthcare (59 per cent).

Rescue work has intensified in Texas with officials launching search operations and saving people stuck in the receding floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, one of the most destructive storms in American history that claimed at least 47 lives.


Nearly a week after Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Texas coast, desperate residents remain stranded without food and water in the wake of unprecedented flooding.


Authorities are searching for survivors and have made helicopter rescues from rooftops as the death toll from Harvey climbed to at least 47, the CNN reported.


Thousands of emergency rescue teams officials are helping people affected by the deluge. The officials are assessing the storm's trail of destruction in Houston as the flood waters slowly started to recede in southeastern Texas. Brazoria County officials have warning that roughly 517 km of the county will be inundated with water from the Brazos River, which is projected to continue rising.


Yesterday, the Houston Fire Department had received 800 service calls, but only 22 were water-related, a spokesperson said. Houston remained flooded, and police continued rescuing people as officials searched homes looking for trapped residents. Beaumont city in southeastern Texas, home to more than 118,000 people, 145-km away from Houston, woke up without drinking water supply yesterday.

Rescuers today called off operations at the Mumbai building collapse site believing that no more persons were trapped under the debris, over 24 hours after the tragedy killed 33 people, including a 20-day-old child.


The 117-year-old building in the congested Bhendi Bazar area in south Mumbai came crashing down yesterday morning, two days after torrential rain brought the maximum city to its knees.


"Rescue operations have been called off as it does not seem that anybody else still remains trapped under the debris. However, some fire brigade personnel along with the police team will remain at the site as a precautionary measure," a senior fire brigade official told PTI.


Personnel of fire brigade, NDRF and the civic body have scoured the debris left by the crash of the five-story building, pulling out the dead and injured. Around 14 people injured in the collapse are undergoing treatment at the state-run J J Hospital, a senior police official said.


"A total of 33 people have died, including a 20-day old male child. Apart from these, 14 are currently admitted in hospital, out which 11 are residents of the building. Two persons are in a critical state," Dr T P Lahane, Dean of JJ hospital told PTI.


Three fire brigade personnel are also admitted, he said. The dead include 23 men, nine women and a 20-day-old male child, police said.


Earlier in the day, police sources had put the toll at 34, which was later corrected as 33.


The search operations had continued through last night. Located in the congested Muslim-dominated Pakmodia Street, the dilapidated Husaini Building housed several families and godowns.


It also housed a play school but children had not arrived yet when the tragedy occurred. The tragedy struck barely two days after torrential rain brought the city to its knees, crippling road, rail and air services, inundating homes and leaving at least 10 people dead. Many suspect the downpour caused further damage to the ramshackle structure, causing its crash. Some residents in the locality claimed that several families lived in crammed rooms in the structure, which was declared "unsafe" by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA).


The Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT), which was to have undertaken redevelopment of the old structure, said the building housed a total of 13 tenants -- 12 residential and one commercial. "Of them, the trust had already shifted seven families in 2013-14," it said in a statement.


"MHADA notices dated March 28 and May 20, 2011, declaring the building dilapidated, were issued along with an offer of transit accommodation to the remaining tenants and occupants," it said.


The Maharashtra government had announced a solatium of Rs 5 lakh each for the next of kin of the deceased. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who visited the site yesterday, also said that the entire medical expenses of those injured would be borne by the state government.


This was the second major building collapse in the city in just over a month, after the crash of a residential complex in suburban Ghatkopar on July 25, which left 17 people dead.

1984 anti-Sikh riots: Supreme Court retired judge JM Panchal and judge KS Radhakrishnan will start functioning from September 5, will file report in SC within three months. Appointed committee will look into 199 cases in which a closure report has been filed by SIT.

Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi today paid homage to former President APJ Abdul Kalam at his memorial at Pei Karumbu near Rameswaram. She tweeted this image of Dr Kalam's slippers saying, "These Chappals of Dr Kalam were in the suitcase of his last journey to Shillong. ( See how worn out they were and had even been repaired)."

Infosys former chairman R Seshasayee today hit out at company founder NR Narayana Murthy for carrying out "personal attacks" and making "false and slanderous accusations" against him, saying he was unable to understand the motivation for the persistent vendetta.

Seshasayee, who along with three other directors quit from the board of Infosys after Murthy rallied other co- founders and institutional investors to bring back peer Nandan Nilekani, said he had always been candid and truthful in all his statements concerning Infosys.

"Since my resignation from the board of Infosys, I have kept away from making any public statements, despite provocations, since I sincerely want the company to move forward, and not be bogged down with the issues of the past," he said, adding he was forced to issue a statement after Murthy's "personal attack and patently false and slanderous accusations" at an investor call earlier this week.

Days after installing Nilekani, Murthy had on August 29 stated that his concerns with the previous board led by Seshasayee were poor governance and ex-CFO Rajiv Bansal being paid large severance as 'hush-money'. Seshasayee said Murthy's statement to the investors "misleadingly attributes words" to him, words taken "completely out of context" to make it appear that he had lied.

Murthy had in his investor call said that Seshasayee had on October 14 told him that the board agreed to pay Bansal large sum of money as it "felt generous".

The Bombay High Court to hear a plea against the BMC & others today in the matter of the death of Dr Deepak Amrapurkar, who died after falling in open manhole on 29 August during the Mumbai floods. 

While Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Sanjeev Balyan clearly stated that they were asked by the party to resign as Union ministers to which they readily complied, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Uma Bharati, who also resigned yesterday, refused to take any questions in this regard.

When asked about the reports of her resignation from the Union cabinet, she said, "Maine ye sawaal suna hi nahin, na sunungi aur na jawaab dungi (I didn't hear the question. Neither will I hear, nor would I answer.)'  -- ANI

The CBI today asserted in the Supreme Court that there was "good, cogent" reason for the lookout circulars against former Union minister P Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram in connection with a case of alleged graft.   

Sunil Arora, who assumed office as election commissioner on Friday, will conduct the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, going by the dates of birth of the two incumbent ECs.   

The three-day coordination meeting of the Sangh Parivar began in Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh, today with top leaders of the saffron combine including Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat and Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah in attendance.

40 allied organisations of the Parivar are also taking part in the meeting being chaired by Bhagwat.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley; Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh; senior Sangh functionaries Bhaiyyaji Joshi, Dattatreya Hosabale and Krishna Gopal; Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Vishwa Hindu Parishad's Pravin Togadia are expected to attend the meeting.

Shah, along with BJP organisation secretary Ram Lal, had reached Vrindavan following his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital amid talks of reshuffle of the Union cabinet.

The meeting, being held at Keshav Dham in Vrindavan, will take stock of the work done by the organisations, a senior functionary said.

Issues such as attacks on RSS cadre in the Left-ruled Kerala and the recent violence in Haryana after the rape conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim will also be discussed, he said.

This will be the first major meeting of the RSS in Uttar Pradesh after the BJP came to power there earlier this year. Some state BJP leaders are also expected to attend the meeting.

RSS prachar pramukh Manmohan Vaidya had called the meet a routine affair and said it was a platform for all sections of the Parivar to share details on the work done by them in their respective fields.  -- PTI

Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who resigned as Union minister yesterday, has said that the party asked him to resign and he followed.

Asked for the reason of resignation, Rudy said it is the prerogative of the prime minister and the government and the party decides (who should be a minister).

"I was asked to step down so I did. I got a chance to work in the government and will now keep on working for the party. It is normal. There should be no disagreement," Rudy said.

MoS Water Resources Sanjeev Balyan, who also resigned last night, said that he was asked to step down.

"My resignation was sought, I resigned. Will now work for the party full time in Western Uttar Pradesh," Balyan said. -- ANI

Manufacturing in India bounced back in August from previous month's GST-related contraction amid resumed growth in new orders, production and employment, a survey said today. The Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index rebounded to 51.2 in August from a low of 47.9 in the previous month, indicating a substantial turnaround from July's GST-related contraction. A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a score below this mark means contraction.

The Indian government has been careful to let China save face and has not declared victory since this risky, months-long deadlock came to an end. See India's initial official statement, crafted with all the excruciating minimalism that Ministry of External Affairs officers spend years mastering (this was followed by a gentle clarification that both sides were withdrawing forces).

The Chinese state media, meanwhile, has been quick to brag that the outcome involved the withdrawal of Indian forces, but conspicuously silent on the apparent cessation of the Chinese road-building activity that started the whole crisis. 

Read the column here.

The Shiv Sena on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government for the debated failure of demonetisation, and made a wry comment that the expense incurred on the printing of new notes was merely a drain of funds for the purpose of fame and advertising.


The scathing attack was published in the Sena's mouthpiece, Saamana, and came close on the heels of the RBI's demonetisation report, which revealed that 99 per cent of old Rs 500, and Rs 1000 notes were returned to the banking system.


It claimed that the one per cent bank notes that didn't return to the banking system were probably not black money, as generally the middle class didn't deposit the money, because either they got tired standing in the queues at banks or were simply ignorant.It also added that people who actually possessed, far from getting caught, didn't even get affected by it.


"In fact, most of the black money was invested in the real estate of cities like Mumbai. It need not be named who were the affluent lot," it added.It also pointed that while Rs. 26,000 crore were not returned to the banking system, an additional Rs. 21,000 crore was "drained away" on the printing of new notes."Thus, Rs. 21,000 crore were drained away in the 'wisdom account' of fame and advertising," mocked the editorial.


The results of demonetisation were contrary to what was claimed, said the Shiv Sena, adding that it instead "reduced the smooth flow of economy to a puddle", and resulted in an increased price and many businesses facing heavy losses.


It also stated that the Prime Minister's claim to be false that demonetisation would put a hold on terror funding and remove fake notes from the market, and said that it, in fact, increased the number of soldier martyrs. As for the fake notes, the forged Rs. 2,000 notes came into circulation a month after its launch.


It accused Prime Minister Modi for making the middle class suffer due to this move, many of whom died waiting in lines, and using demonetisation to for the benefit of election.


"The money was used in the Municipality election, District Council, and Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha election, and the atmosphere of 'pink notes' opened the doors of victory," Saamana commented.


Nearly 10 months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation, the RBI recently published a report that stated that 99 per cent of the old currency notes were returned to the banking system.

A 24-year-old man died on Thursday night after he was hit by the SUV of an MLA of Shikaripur in Karnataka.

The deceased, Suresh, was knocked down by the SUV in which BY Raghavendra, former Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa's son, was travelling.

The accident occurred near the Madapura Cross in the Honnali Taluk, when the MLA was heading towards Shikaripur.

The boy was a resident of the Madapura village in the district. Following the accident, hundreds of people gathered at the spot.Honnali inspector JR Ramesh and former minister MP Renukacharya visited the spot.A complaint has been registered at the Nyamathi Police Station. -- ANI


Image: Former Karnataka CM BS Yeddyurappa with his son BY Raghavendra.

The three-day coordination meeting of the Sangh Parivar began in Vrindavan today with top leaders of the saffron combine including RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and BJP president Amit Shah in attendance.

Forty allied organisations of the Parivar are also taking part in the meeting being chaired by Bhagwat. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley; Home Minister Rajnath Singh; senior Sangh functionaries Bhaiyyaji Joshi, Dattatreya Hosabale and Krishna Gopal; Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and VHP's Pravin Togadia are expected to attend the meeting.

Shah, along with BJP organisation secretary Ram Lal, had reached here following his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital amid talks of reshuffle of the Union cabinet.

The meeting, being held at Keshav Dham in Vrindavan, will take stock of the work done by the organisations, a senior functionary said. Issues such as attacks on RSS cadre in the Left-ruled Kerala and the recent violence in Haryana after the rape conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim will also be discussed, he said.

Noted economist Rajiv Kumar today took over as the vice-chairman of government think tank Niti Aayog. Kumar replaced Arvind Panagariya, an Indian-American economist who left the think tank yesterday to return to academia.

Kumar was a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR). He holds a DPhil in economics from Oxford and a PhD from Lucknow University. Earlier, he had also served as Secretary General of industry association Ficci. He was a member of the National Security Advisory Board between 2006 and 2008.

In a unique move, a tribal youth, seeking justice for an alleged fake case against him, carried his aged, frail parents on his shoulders and walked for about forty kilometers.

Hailing from a village Moroda in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district, Kartik Singh has claimed that the Moroda Police lodged a fake FIR against him and locked him up in jail for 18 days in 2009.

As a result of this, he was and is still an 'outcaste' in his village.

According to Singh, he has no source of income or money in hand as none of the villagers give him work. Moreover, he cannot move out of the village to find work as he has old parents to look after.

In a retelling of the legend of Shravan Kumar, Singh carried his parents in two baskets to seek justice.

He said he was educated, but can't get a job or get married as the case that was registered 6-7 years ago is still in the court.

According to advocate Prabhudan Marandi said, "It is not the first time something like this is happening. Several false cases are being filed."

Advocate and social activist Kumar Patra added, "Kartik is drowned in debt, he can barely feed his parents or himself."

Kartik had even asked the district collector for a job, as the society has abandoned him, but received no response.

"The state and the Central government have several schemes for the upliftment of the socially and financially backward classes, but everything is out of his reach and the Government representatives or political parties have not noticed anything," Patra said.

According to Kartik, all he wants is to prove himself as 'not guilty' in the eyes of his old parents before they pass away.

Mumbai building collapse update: A total of 47 people have been rescued in the Bhendi Bazaar building collapse in Mumbai.

Till now 33 people have lost their lives, while 15 have been injured. A two-month old baby is among the dead.

Earlier at Thursday midnight ten fire engines and quick response team , two rescue vans, one house collapse van, ambulances, about 70 fire personnel, one National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team, two pock lane, six JCB and 16 dumpers were working for rescue operations.

The five-storey Husaini building collapsed in Mumbai's Bhendi Bazaar area on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 5 lakh for the kin of those who died in Bhendi Bazaar building collapse.

Taking stock of the situation the Chief Minister also assured that action would be taken in case of any negligence in the incident.

The Chief Minister visited the accident spot and also ordered a detailed enquiry into the matter.

"Action will be taken in case of any negligence. I am personally monitoring the situation," Fadnavis told the media here.

The Chief Minister also directed the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner to focus on immediate medical assistance to the injured persons.

The injured people have been admitted to the JJ hospital for the medical treatment.

A lookout notice has been issued by the police against Honeypreet Insan, adopted daughter of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, Panchkula Deputy Commissioner of Police Manbir Singh said on Friday.

Honeypreet sparked controversy when photos of her accompanying the Dera chief when he was being taken into custody and was flown in a specially arranged helicopter from Panchkula went viral.

Honeypreet is considered close to Ram Rahim Singh and is also seen as the likely successor of the Dera.

She describes herself as 'papa's angel, philanthropist, director, editor and actress' on social media. -- ANI, PTI

The United States intends to work with Pakistan in fighting terrorism, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis has said, underlining that any responsible nation would want to that.

The relations between the two countries have been strained lately after President Donald Trump hit out at Pakistan for providing safe havens to terror groups that kill Americans in Afghanistan.

"We intend to work with Pakistan in order to take the terrorists down. I think that's what a responsible nation does," Mattis said at a media briefing on Thursday.

The Trump administration recently notified the Congress that it has given $255 million worth of conditional military assistance to Islamabad that it can only be accessed if it takes more action against terror groups.

"The (state) department is placing a pause on spending those funds and on allocating them to any specific FMF sales contracts," a state department official told PTI.

The US took this decision as it had two options -- either to give this money to Pakistan or return it back unused to the treasury department.

"Consistent with our new South Asia strategy, this decision allows us the flexibility to continue reviewing our level of cooperation with Pakistan prior to committing new security assistance resources to projects in Pakistan," the official said.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on August 22 that, "Pakistan must adopt a different approach, and we are ready to work with them to help them protect themselves against terrorist organisations. We are going to be conditioning our support for Pakistan and our relationship with them on them delivering results in this area."

According to The Wall Street Journal, the move to hold back on the funds is the first in a series of possible actions Tillerson and others previewed last week.

'Other steps to turn up the heat on Pakistan could include sanctioning Pakistani government officials and stepping up US drone strikes, as well as further reductions the in US aid,' the financial daily said.  -- PTI

Photograph: Aaron P Bernstein/Reuters

JUST IN: Death toll in Mumbai building collapse has increased to 34, fire brigade officials say.

At least 15 people have been injured.

Over night rescue operations continued in Bhendi Bazar where a 100-year-old building collapsed on Thursday.

An assistant commandant of the National Disaster Response Force earlier said that officials rescued 13 people safely, while 31 deaths were reported so far.

The toll was later revised to 34.

Rescue ops are still continuing.

More details awaited. -- ANI

IMAGE: NDRF officials carryout rescue and relief ops at the collapse site in Bhendi Bazar, Mumbai. Photograph: Sahil Salvi

A 17-year-old Russian girl, an alleged administrator of the deadly Blue Whale suicide challenge, was arrested from the Khabarovsk Krai region in south-east Russia, reports said.